Let's take some time to analyze Bertha Mason, not as a person but as a symbol, since Charlotte Brontë just loves to hit you over the head with those. Bertha Mason symbolizes the passionate and emotional side of Jane. The side English society has been telling her to suppress and deny for her whole life. Mr. Brockleherst explaining to a young Jane that his "Mission [was] to... teach [the students' to clothe themselves in shamefacedness and sobriety" (76). To start Bertha and Jane are connected in various ways. They both are romantically involved with Rochester and they have both been locked up and imprisoned by members of their family. Rochester locked Bertha in an attic when she started to show signs of madness and passion. The Reeds locked up jane in the Red Room as a child when she also showed signs of anger and passion. Bessie warning Jane that "If [Jane] become[s] passionate and rude, [Mrs. Reed] will send [her] away" (16). Jane fears Bertha Mason the same way she fears her love for Rochester. Jane's passion and love is what throws her life into disarray and the existence of Bertha Mason ruins her relationship with Rochester. Bertha Mason and Jane's relationship to her might be Charlotte Brontë's way of critiquing the way women in 19th century England were told to suppress and deny their natural emotions, passion, and ability to love.
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